California Conservative

It seems that Harry Reid’s contention that the Abramoff Scandal is a ‘Republicans Only’ scandal isn’t looking so credible anymore.

Reid himself, along his Senate counsel Jim Ryan, met with Abramoff deputy Ronald Platt on June 5, 2001, “to discuss timing on minimum wage bill” that affected the Marianas, according to a bill that Greenberg Traurig, Abramoff’s firm, sent the Marianas. Three weeks before the meeting, Greenberg Traurig’s political action committee donated $1,000 to Reid’s Senate re-election committee. Three weeks after the meeting, Platt himself donated $1,000 to Reid.

Manley said Reid’s official calendar doesn’t list a meeting on June 5, with Platt, but he also said he couldn’t say for sure the contact didn’t occur. Manley confirmed Platt had regular contacts with Reid’s office, calling them part of the “routine checking in” by lobbyists who work Capitol Hill. As for the timing of donations, Manley said, “There is no connection. This is just a typical part of lawful fundraising.”

When Jim Manley says that “Reid’s official calendar doesn’t list a meeting on June 5, with Platt”, does that mean that Reid was trying to keep the meeting secret? That’s certainly a possibility but I’d need more than that to confidently state that Reid knew he was mixed up in something unethical and was trying to keep his activities secret. Still, that’s one of the questions I’d ask Sen. Reid if I were a reporter.

As for Reid’s claims that he didn’t accept any contributions from Abramoff personally, that might be true but I’d doubt that many people would differentiate between Abramoff directing his clients or lobbying partners to contribute to Reid’s campaigns or Abramoff writing the check personally.

On Nov. 8, 2002, the Nevada Democrat signed a letter with California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein urging Interior Secretary Gale Norton to reject a proposal by the Cuyapaipe Band of Mission Indians to convert land for a health clinic into a casino in southern California. The casino would have competed with the Palm Springs gambling establishment run by the Agua Caliente, one of Abramoff’s tribes. Two weeks later, Reid went to the Senate floor to oppose fellow Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow’s effort to win congressional approval for a Michigan casino for the Bay Mills Indians, which would have rivaled one already operating by the Saginaw Chippewa represented by Abramoff. “The legislation is fundamentally flawed,” Reid argued, successfully leading the opposition to Stabenow’s proposal.

This sounds like a quid pro quo. It’s obvious that Sen. Reid was carrying Abramoff’s water. It’s also obvious that Reid didn’t much care if it affected his Nevadan constituents. It seems that Reid’s motto read “Write me a check and I’ll influence.” I don’t think that the Senate Ethics rules should read that way and I’d doubt that they do read that way.

One last thing: It’s appalling that Reid would run interference against a casino in Michigan when Michigan’s senator, Debbie Stabenow, was trying to get it built for her constituents. That’s overreaching and possibly for the shadiest of reasons.

That’s simply inexcusable.

UPDATE:
Michelle Malkin: “Dirty Harry Reid: Now and Then”

RELATED:
A Sinking Ship?

Cross-post at LetFreedomRing

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 9th, 2006 at 12:42 pm and is filed under Author: Gary Gross, Election 2008, Special Interests, Washington, DC. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.